For whom the bell tolls
by Heaven O. Waits
Summary: Continuation of My Romeo and Poison Ivy festers.  A Catwoman Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne Batman love story. Follow up is You May Now Kiss The Bride.
1. Chapter 1

I awake to the sound of the sea. The curtains wave in the breeze. I brush my hair out of my face and lean naked against the soft silk pillows. I feel the soft sea air gently glide over my back, buttocks and thighs. I let out a deep sigh. I roll over when I hear noises outside the pergola.

Bruce enters naked holding a tray of juice fruits, coffee and croissants. He seems perfectly content in his birthday suit. I am starving!  
(Then I realize it would be rude not to eat a bit of the breakfast he brought me.)

I try not to stare as he gently sets the tray over my waist then slides onto the bed beside me. The morning sun shimmers in his sapphire eyes. His dimples dance as he smiles and leans forward and gives me a soft kiss. His lips feel amazing. I can smell us on his face. I can smell us on his lips. I try to remain calm and not throw in some tongue into the kiss.

"Good morning sweetheart!" he whispers I shake my head wondering just how lucky this kitten is as I take in a deep breath so I don't cry. I have never been loved like this before.

"Good morning darling! Breakfast for me? Oh honey it looks wonderful! I turn to him. "You look wonderful."

One of his eyebrow goes up and possibly some other part of his georgeous anatomy.

I sit up allowing the sheets to fall down to my waist as I slowly pick up a fresh grape and eat it allowing its juices to awaken my tastebuds. "The grapes are from a local vineyard." he says leaning his head on his hand watching me.

I tilt my head back and open my mouth wide and take another grape off the cluster as he studies me.  
"Mmmm they taste heavenly!"

I turn my body towards his and slowly grab a grape and place it toward his mouth. He opens his mouth slowly as I stare at his lips feeling my heart beating faster. I hesitate with the grape holding it for a few seconds. I see his tongue slowly move toward me. I move the grape closer and stare at his tongue which scoops under the grape . He gently he closes his mouth. I watch his jaw slowly move as he tastes the grape inside his mouth.

(GOD I am on fire just seeing his mouth and his tongue !I want to be that grape... Does that make me weird? I wonder.)

(I can't focus in the meal. I can't take my eyes of him. He lays there, so perfect in his own skin. He is relaxed and seems so happy. I have to tell try to tell him.)

I set aside the tray of Italian honey figs, apricots, peaches, strawberries , stuffed fruit pasties, apple phyllo triangles, crepes,brioches, buccalleto plated with fresh squeezed orange juice rich coffee, and one saucer of fresh milk and straddle him. I touch his face and tilt feeling so much want, so much desire. I give him a solemn stare and clear my throat

(here it goes!)  
"I am consumed utterly by you. Not just when I see you but every second of the day. It is not that you are absolutley irrisistible, inconveibable sexy, nor not that you have the brains that I would so love to eat."

He chuckles.

I touch his cheek. It is not your wealth, but oddly it does have some to do with you career or should I say ambition!" I wink.

" You inspire me, you educate me, you fill me daily with hope and joy. I cannot put the right words into my mouth to tell you all that you mean to me!" I shake my head side to side.

"Ohhh Selina!" He touches my cheek and I tilt my head against his warm hand.

He moves forward to kiss me and I put my hand out.  
" For all the wrongs I have done in my life, you make them right. You have mended all my shattered regrets...  
I take his hand into mine and kiss it softly. "You take away my pain and sorrow simply with your smile."

He smiles at me and moves his hand onto his chest above his heart and sighs.  
I begin to get teary eyed and catch my breath but continue as he looks up at me. "Bruce, you amaze me with your heart that cares not just for me but for all be chosen by you amdist all your weeping suitors pleases me, but to make love to you and show you how much pleases me even more. My breath starts to catch as I stuggle for air." It is ethereral. I never thought about love. I never questioned my destiny. I always lived day to day and vicariously though my alter-ego. I have done things, many, I am not proud of . I took and took to fill what was taken. I never realized I was trying to fill a void until now."

He nods.

I lean atop his chest and climb toward his face.  
He gently slides his fingers down my back.

"I am finally whole, I am finally one us being two."

I softly kiss his lips and place each hand on his cheeks. " I will always love you,...I ...I will always love you ...even in death I shall not part from you ...I carry your love inside me. I love you!" We kiss softly as a tear falls from my face.

He touches the tear in worry.  
"I am not upset, I am happy!"  
He smiles looking into my eyes.

"I have been keeping a secret from you." I say in a dry whisper.  
He doesn't say a word but patiently waits for me to explain. His eyes say he is wounded that I have kept something from him.

"I don't know how best to tell you this so I am just going to say it.  
Bruce, I am pregnant!"

The color washes from his face and he stares at me stunned. His mouth now hangs. His eyes move now slowly to my stomach then my face.  
"I know I should have told you but"  
He grabs and and kisses my face and hugs me laughing.  
"Pregnant? I am going to be a father?"  
I nod a yes.  
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" He yells then stands up and shouts into the air.  
"We are having a baby?" and brushes his hair back and bends over placing his hands on his knees catching his breath.  
I laugh as he paces now across the rooftop.

"Oh my Selina! You are always full of suprises!"

He stands back up and leans his body back and stares up to the sky.  
He then walks back to me and sits on the bed on his knees.  
"Do you feel okay? What do you need? What do I do? Selina this is one thing I know little of."  
I laugh " I don't know a thing!"

He frowns. "I gave you alcohol last night."  
I laugh "Well maybe I know a little. That is okay every once in a while. I don't feel sick."

"How far along are you?" "When did you find out?"  
"I am only two months and I knew pretty much the next day if that is scientfically possible. I knew for sure after I was late. On the flight here I felt a bit sick."  
He places his hand on my belly. "I want you to go as soon as we get back to my doctor. I want to make sure we do everything right."  
I start to cry.  
"Sorry must be pregnancy hormones."

He kisses my belly.  
"I want to name her Helena." I say "Her? What if our baby is a he."  
"The baby is a girl. I like the name Helena."  
"How do you know?"  
"Zatanna told me."  
"Zatanna? When? What ?"  
"At Eggerton. She knew. She also said our daughter will save the human race. She said she had visited the future and that she is their only hope."  
He remains silent.

"I'm starving!"  
I grab a flaky fruit pastry I tear at it with my teeth as the Apricots squish out . The excess dangles while I twist it into my mouth savoring it's thick sweet flavor.

"Hungry?" he says laughing.  
"Starved!" I say eyeing him like the next bite..

I yank the bread outside my mouth and hold it up tilting my head. I gently set it down and slide the tray onto the ground beside the bed.  
His eyes are now all over me. I grin and continue to chew at the bread.

'' Well you are eating for two now!" He says and gently touches my belly"  
I frown. "I may not look like I usually do. I will get fat."  
"You glow Selina. I should have known. You are beautiful. I can't wait to see you visibly carrying our child."  
I sigh.

"I have an idea !" I yell and straddle him and pin down arms.  
"I have an experiment I want to do."

"An experiment?" he asks with one eyebrow arched.

I place my finger on his lip "Shhh!"

I lean to the side and grab at the tray again.  
"I want you to close your eyes."  
He obliges.

I grab a stawberry and slide it to his lips and rub. He opens it. I watch him squish the fruit and eat it delicately with three bites and a swallow ( He always has the best table manners.)

I grab a fig.  
It is chewy but he never fails as he eats it slowly calmly and then swallows. I grab a fresh apple slice and wait for him to open his mouth but this time I insert two fingers.

He tries to gently bite down but stops. I hold his mouth open.  
He pauses not knowing what to do.  
"I have noticed dear that you have too good of manners ."  
He can't talk, or won't talk with his mouth full.  
"I approve of your table etiquette if we were at a five star but for now, just us ,I think you need to relax just a bit. You are too tense. You are too robotic. You need to get back to basics, back to instincts." I shove the slice into his mouth and close then open his jaw with my two hands roughly.

" I like a man who can eat at times sloppy. To eat voraciously, to indulge instinctually, to devour carnivorously.!" I begin to breath heavy.  
He mumbles something with his mouth full.

"You see dear a man who eats as you shows little joy in it. It is just a performance for the stomach when it should be a divine feast for the pallat, a delicacy for the soul. A man who eats politely does not relish it, savor it.

My eyes narrow "A man needs to get a bit dirty, get his hands in his meal." My voice gets lower "it may spill and may drip, but it is to be enjoyed ...I start to purr "It should be like sex!"

I squeeze my legs tighter around his abs. "It should enlighten all your senses. It should take you away in it's story, its flavor, its darkness and its heavenlyness." I lick at his navel and groin.

"A man who has such a frame of mind shows me more of his psyche than you know."

I grab another stawberry and bruise it in my fingers allowing the juice to run down my hand. I place it to his lips. He begins again to eat.  
Slowly he feels the juices press against his lipsand sticks out his tongue. A soft moan escapes his mouth as he swallows.

"Yes." I whisper watching him devour the food. I feed him more. He savors each bite. I watch him now wondering if he is sated.

I now pick up a croissant and dip it in honey. I give him a bite. I now grab the saucer of cream and tip it allowing it to drip down the center of his chest. I can see tiny goosebumps as I slowly lick the tiny river.

"I want to taste you." He says sternly.

"I thought you would never ask!"

I turn around and scoot atop his face.  
I grab him licking and sucking as he begins to grow inside my mouth. I moan with him clamped inside my mouth.

I feel him start to lick me with tiny laps like a kitten suckling milk.

He pauses only to say"Mmmmm now this is going to taste good and trust me baby I want it sloppy!"


	2. Chapter 2

Bruce turns to me and asks "Why the name Helena?"

"I want to name our baby Helena as Helena was a great empress and a mother. She gave birth to the great ruler Constantine and was the finder and keeper of the relics of the true cross."

I stood up and walked back and forth under the pergola. "Many of the most important artifacts of today remain thanks to Helena one being the Bethlehem and the nativity. Christopher Marlowe wrote of Helena as well as her name appearing in the great work of Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream."

I now place my arms over his shoulders and nuzzle his chin "Perhaps she was a dream made in midsummer by a Knight not of fairy tales? Perhaps she was also a dream of mine?"

He chuckles.  
"She was said in myth to be daughter of Zeus and Leda. Many wrote about Helen's beauty saying she was the most beautiful woman of Greece and the cause of the Trojan War."

"Yes. With your genes she shall be beautiful! It's the ideal name Selina." He says.

"Yes." I say running my claws softly down his chest.

Suddenly the wind picks up and sweeps the curtains around me. I raised my arm to remove the shroud.

"Keep it."he says eyeing me.

I am wrapped in a long white veil.I giggle and move the drape around my arms. He rushes toward me and kisses me passionatly. His hands glide across my body as I bend toward him. I wrap one leg against his firm buttocks.

"My beautiful bride!" he gasps in between kisses.

Suddenly we hear a loud cough "AAhhhem!"

We turned to see an old man with bushy hair and mustache glancing away from us.

"Sorry to barge in like this." He says.

Bruce turns around.

"What? Who are you? How did you get past my security?" as he stands backing me up against the rail of the pergola.

"I traveled through space and time to deliver you both a message from the future and the past."

Bruce's raises his hands and his neck tightens. He eyes the man for weapons while casually grabbing me a robe. He slides on his boxers and gestures toward our table chairs.

"Go on."he says calmly.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do then the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." The man with rather old fashion attire of tweed suit and bow tie says laughing looking down at the Catalina.

"I said go on not quote Mark Twain." Bruce said agitated.

"I am Twain." the man said. "But you can call me Sam. He extends his large hand toward Bruce.

Bruce's eyes get big as I gasp.

Bruce now appears a bit unsettled. He shakes the man's hands then turns to me. "Honey. Do you mind grabbing us some coffee from downstairs in the kitchen?"

I nod and head toward the stairs. I sneak under the eave and watch.

"What do you wish to tell me Sam?"

The man unbottons his tweed jacket and sets a envelope on the table.  
"I died in the year 1910." Previous to that I found my true love to be that of writing, to poetry, and to joking." He laughs. " In those years I met my very dear friend Nikola."

Batman places his hand on the envelope but does not lift it up.

"Nikola is an extraordinary man. He is a pioneer, a revolutionist, a inventor. He shared with me on many occasions the details of his finest works. I would stand in awe as Nikki would showcase in his usual Cape and Hat performance his latest magical invention. He was like a Houdini to my mind, unlocking things that had been shackled for too long, enlightening me to the infinite possibilites."

Bruce now frowns and taps his fingers on the envelope. Sam eyes it and coughs.

"Ehhhem well to make a long story short Nikola came back for me in 1910. You see I did die but he never did. He, like Houdini was a master of illusion. He staged his own death so he could avenge what would have been his real death. Ironic isn't it?"

Bruce now throws his elbow on the table and props his chin with his hand concentrating.

"Nikki knew that the war department was giving him the run around. He had worked on his death ray and time machine programs for too long not to doubt it. They just wanted them completed so there would be no need for him anymore. He found the perfect test location for his experiments near Trenton on over three thousand acres. The military now had granted him full access on the base. It was there he worked on his magic!"

"Plattsburgh." Bruce whispers.

I scoot closer as pebbles roll under my feet onto the stairs. I see Bruce looking my way. I duck.

"Honey is that you with the coffee?"

(crap I have to get coffee and miss this?)

"Coming dear!"

I turn to the kitchen but pause to hear Sam saying "Go and see where the silo's are. Deep down 174 feet deep and 54 feet wide is Nikki's machine." Suddenly a hand covers my eyes. I bite, scratch and kick! I can't see! I started to hiss!

I hear "If you hold a cat by the tail you learn things you cannot learn any other way.!" and laughter.

"Baby! Baby! Are you okay?" Bruce asks rubbing his hand that appears to be clawed.

I sit up in the bed. It is covered with food remnants, stains from jellies and fruit, liquids of questionable origin. I rub my eyes.

"You feel asleep. I didn't want to wake you. Are you okay?"

"Uhh yeah I just had the strangest dream!"


	3. Chapter 3

~3~

Bruce had insisted that we get married right away. He had found the ideal chapel. I considered it as I now had a father to give me away but then cold paws set in. I had tried to argue that I wanted a particular gown, veil and cake. He knew the very best for those and won that round. I had said I did not have my birth certificate but he produced one that Oracle had somehow stumbled on. He won the second round. He mentioned almost all of our friends were already here. Third time he knocks me down. "Don't you want to marry me?" he asks sullen. I raised my hand up to protest when bells chimed Ding Ding Ding...We have a winner and I caved.

After shopping with my giddy bridesmaids all day I toss my bags on the bed and slump out of my spaghetti strapped sundress and heels. I take my hair down from its clip and stare at the embers of dusk smouldering over the ocean. I sigh as the sea breeze caresses my face. I stare out at the ocean as the tides crash singing a tearful symphony. It's grandeur leaves me speechless, its tranquility eases my brain from worry and lulls it to a placid calm. I breath in the air deeply and sigh. Capri is the place that artists paint, for poets to inspire from, for playwrights to boast of, for lovers to swoon in... and Italy, is now in my blood.

Bruce said he would be back around 8 p.m and had left me his credit card. I placed it under the vase of hibiscus and giggle re-playing my shopping as if I was Julia Robert's on Rodeo Drive in Pretty Woman. Now I just wanted my Richard Gere home for the end scene.

I yawn and walk barefoot back under the pergola and jump on the cushy matress filled with lush pillows. I kick my feet up teen-age slumber party style and giggle hugging a pillow.

I jump when I hear a woke to the eery tapping then a scream. I sit up and look around. My heart thuds as I see red beady eyes staring at me in the darkness. I don't even breathe. I wait motionless for the thing to move. It just sits like a statue, it's eyes staring right at me.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I yell.

The intruder suddenly moves in a hopping pattern onto my bed. I can see now it is a Raven. I scream "shooo shooo!" and flap my hands at it but it just ruffles its neck feathers and hops closer tilting its head and shiny beak open then closed. It looks like it is trying to talk.

Suddenly a gust of wind tears through the Pergola tossing the curtains and pillows around. The bird leans and pivots on tiny black legs. He opens his mouth as the storm rages and speaks the sound of many voices combined into one.

"I am Raven. I have come here for YOU! I am the omen of death to some of new-life for others."

I gasp in horror as the wind slaps at my hair. I tuck my legs up toward my body. He lifts his clawed foot and points it toward me.  
Another rush of wind twirls in a funnel all around the bed as the melded voices say "We have known eachother for centuries Selina. Do you not remember ?"

I shake my head no.

"You still retain your magic Selina, you still have your gifts bestowed on you but soon your time will run out. Bast cannot keep you alive forever my dear."

The raven rises and is sucked into the eddy of swirling air currents. He spreads his wings and circles me faster until he is a blur in the whirlpool . The voices shout:

"I come to you as always for even in DEATH we shall not part.  
I come to you as always for only you are the owner of my heart." The voices get louder and shake the bed. " I come to you now to warn you even though I wish for us to be as one.  
I come to you to warn you of the EVIL one .

Be careful of thine SHIPS that pass in the night. If lost look NORTH and ye shall be set free."  
The wind suddenly slows and the roof is utterly soundless except for my rapid breath.

The bird as black as pitch now sits perched on the wood beam above the entrance. I shout "Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend! I shrieked, upstarting-  
"Get thee back into the tempest of the Night's Plutonium shore! Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul has spoken! Leave my lonliness unbroken! -Quit the bust above me door! Take they beak from out my heart, and take the form from off my door!"

The bird now blinks its eyes in sadness or in madness and flies away.  
I watch with wide eyes as a single black feather rocks

back and forth,

back and forth,

back and forth

then stops and rests gently over my heart.


	4. Chapter 4

~4~

Bruce arrives yelling my name. (Am I dreaming?) I sit up and look around. The raven is gone and Bruce is standing in the entrance to the pergola. I glance at my chest. The feather is gone. "Are you okay?"

He says he got here early as a storm is heading this way and for us to sleep below. We grab all my bags of shopping extravaganza and head below as the winds begin to pick up knocking our table and chairs over.

Bruce slams the door shut and gently sets the heaping bags down in the enormous foyer with a wall of glass overlooking the ocean. I try to tame my wild hair with my hands as he rushes and scoops me in his arms and spins me around kisses me.

Kiss and "Did you have a good time shopping?Kiss and I missed you today?" I open my eyes and giggle. "Yes. I found my dress, my veil, my shoes, my negligee."  
A moan escapes his lips as he kisses me harder then slowly lets me down.

"No peeking it is bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the wedding."  
He puts up a boyscout salute.  
I think he probably was a boyscout and giggle and salute back with a exaggerated nod. The lights flicker as rain begins to pelt against the window. Bruce runs to the kitchen and finds candles to light.

He scatters them throughout the house as I quickly change into a short black nightie. I walk back into the main foyer just as he has lit the last candle. I stop in the doorway and watch him. A halo of light surrounds his face. He seems so angelic, a saint, a true noble Knight. I sigh as I think of the man I am about to marry. My hands start to shake as a rush of emotions soar through my veins. (Never will there be another like him.)

He turns detecting my presence and smiles at me in approval of my tiny little outfit. I flaunt it well and walk with cat-like grace toward my Knight in waiting. He sits down slowly and places his hands on the back of the sofa. I tip-toe slower watching the hunger in his eyes. I return it with a spring and straddle his lap lifting his shirt off kissing and clawing his muscular chest. He slides one strap down and begins to kiss my neck and shoulders as I moan looking out at the storm.

I lean back as he slides the other strap off my nightie and looks deep into my eyes.

"Make love to me." 


	5. Chapter 5

~5~

Bruce props his hand up under his ear and asks "Was that allright?"

I sit up in front of the fire.

"Allright? Allright? Oh my God Bruce I had 5 in a row!"

He smiles and traces tiny lines on my shoulder then slides it down onto my ribs and hips.  
"Do you want 6?" he asks easing a finger further down.

I scoot closer. "Of course but first I want to eat!"

"Oh! Of course he says and springs up grabbing the pulp of the once giant pillar candle and heads to the kitchen to get us some food and drink. I watch as his perfectly formed glutes and hams pitter pat over the marble. I stick my hanging tongue back in my mouth and I wipe my face with my hands like a cat to clean the sticky off and stretch my legs out feeling so good from our three hours of love-making.

I hear him in the kitchen chopping, slicing and dicing as I stare out at the storm. He walks back with a large box. He pulls out a glass of water for me and some fresh cut apples and tiny melon balls. He says he will make our meal over the fire. A true Ranger Rick here.

He pulls out a large fish in white paper seared explaining this is an old Indian trick. I eat at the slice of apple watching him. He rubs the fish with butter, fresh garlic, dill and lemon slices. He then encases it in kelp and aluminum foil. Next he lashes it to a driftwood plank and places it into the hot fire.

"I got this today at the market. I hope you like it!"  
"I love fish!"  
He laughs."I had thought you would!"  
He pulls out a huge freshly made salad.

"Go ahead and start baby. This may take a while."  
"I love you!"  
"I love you too!"

I sit near the fire and look at my plate. I bow my head and say a silent prayer of thanks to the man upstairs and dig in.

I eat and feed him bites as he works away at the fire stirring, checking flipping, and poking at the fire.

He next dumps clams into a bowl and adds dry vermouth. He places a grate to the side of the planked fish and sets them on it to steam. I finish my salad and fruit and can smell the clams popping open.

I devour a clam then feed him one by one watching in awe as he eats while checking the fish and preparing dessert. Baked apples.

He cores the apples and combines 1 cup of sugar and 2 cups boiling water and a cinnamon stick in a saucepan for syrup and cooks for 8 minutes Then he mixes a half cup currants and a half cup raisin and a half cup chopped walnuts and stuffs the centers. He pours the syrup on the apples and cooks them on the red hot coals while we start on the fish.

"The dessert should take around twenty minutes baby."

"Oh my GOD this is so good!"  
He turns and sits down to feast on the fish steaming under the kelp pleased.

I stare at him sitting beside me on the floor. He amazes me yet again. I grab my fork to grab another bite of fish and stop.

"Thank you for doing all of this for me."

"I did it for us Selina and and you are welcome."

Suddenly the lights flicker back on. We seem quiet as the room seemed so much cozier in the dark.

"I will clean up and meet you in bed."

"I can help."

"Thank you but I want you to relax. You have been busy shopping all day!"

I roll my eyes. Yeah shopping. I used to be out creeping on rooftops. Now look at me. You have gone and domesticated me!"

He laughs "I doubt you will ever be dometicated Selina my dear, you will always retain that wildness that I love.

I place my nails and and fake a claw scratch and laugh.

Bruce cleans up then looks around the cabinets. He finds an old dvd of a favorite movie. He grabs it and carries it into the bedroom.

"Look what I found!"

"Oh I love that movie!" I scream and hit the pillow beside me for him to hurry up and get in. 


	6. Chapter 6

~6~

In the middle of the night during the flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder another visitor arrives at the Villa

Loud pings on the glass alert Bruce from his slumber. He sits up in bed noticing the t.v. is still on. He turns it off and adjusts his pillow. He turns slowly toward Selina who is sleeping blissfully. He looks around the room. The noises begin again. He looks toward the window.

Taps like tiny pebbles being thrown against the glass increase. He grabs his robe and walks beside the window then looks up to the roof.

"Sorry to disturb you again but we are running out of time. Did you read the envelope?"

"Yes." Bruce says gesturing for the man to sit down. He sits the chairs back upright and adjusts the table on the roof."But I have more questions."

The bushy mustached man laughs "I thought you would." and looks around "got anything to wet my whistle?"

"What do you have in mind?" Bruce asks.

"Something old and warm will do."

Bruce returns with two tumblers and a bottle of scotch. He pours it over the cubes and hands the visitor the glass."

"Ahhh been a while since I have had really good scotch." The man holds his hand up for a toast. "To the future!" and takes a big swig as Batman watches.

Bruce waits for the man to set his glass down then begins

"How do you expect me to believe that you are real and not an imposter"

The man laughs. The same way I know that you are the imposter and all that your life is not as real as you make it to be."

Bruce clinches the glass tight.

"We all have our little secrets. You are not really, Bruce Wayne. You are something else. That is why you were chosen."

"Chosen? For what?

"Why to save the world of course!" he says and chuckles tilting the glass back.

Bruce now stares at the man in a very serious glare.

"Save the world from what? And why me?" Bruce asks leaning forward studying the mans face.

"Oh. yes. We have many who would love to see what we are about to show you but they do not have the will power nor the ethics to be able to retain such knowledge. You are the perfect subject for our experiment. You do not fear like normal humans, you actually fear nothing. It is like you are an island and on that note I and Nikki can relate. I have studied humanity all my natural life and all though comical and enjoyable it is also filled with great sorrow, pain and anguish. Death is one thing that most men fear, but you are not most men."

Batman takes a sip of his drink and sets the tumbler down swirling the cubes of ice in the amber liquid.  
"Nikki traveled into the future. He built a great mother ship and navigated with magnets and like ancient mariners used birds."

"Through the tunnel?" Bruce asks.

"Yes that is one port that the ship docks."

The man chuckles. "I know it sounds like Fantastic Voyage, Forbidden Planet, The Andromeda Strain and it is deep into military chaos like that of the 1980's War Games Movie but the simple truth is space exploration has been around for centuries."

He laughs again. "I have enjoyed the future and all its depictions in novels and movies. The only thing disappointing is the music and the abuse of our planet and of the ever growing greed."

The man takes another sip and notices it is empty. Bruce pours him another glass.

The man twirls his mustache with his fingers and says "like Faust, or Shelley's Frankenstein if not simply Nostradamus's prophecy we are dealing with things that are to most taboo, GOD-like, and deeply coveted. You see human nature is to believe in what we can see. I can ramble on for days of the cover-ups the blood-shed over science but the worst was over weaponry and mass destruction. Some believe in time travel but none can prove it exists. Ever read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

Bruce nods no.

"We have a few believers. Just as some believe in a meta-human world that androids have melded with humans for the future race or the androids also saw they could create their own race and reign supreme."

The man sets the tumbler down and leans back in his chair. "Nikki tried to keep things in order. He tried to devise even a back-up plan in case of nuclear war. He along with the nation's best architects and engineeres devised lost cities underground. These would be used in case of another World War. These cities still exist but Nikki saw the levels of weaponry being devised and knew the planet life would be marginal and deep space exploration inevitable. He knew his death ray would not be used for peace but to wage war. Nikki had devoted his life to helping us achieve a better more sustainable way of LIFE but others would destroy his life's work for DEATH. Do you know what all Nikki invented for man-kind?"

"I know a bit. He was...I mean is a great man!" Bruce says.

"Hah! Hah! Yes! Yes! He is! To Nikola!" and clinks his glass to Bruce's.

"To Nikola!" Bruce salutes.

"So what do I need to do?" Bruce asks.

"First I want to explain something to you so you can better understand who YOU are. You remember the movie you just finished?"

Bruce fidgets and lifts his glass and takes a sip. "Yes."

"Well try to think about your life and all the events in it. Think of everything you have done. I know right now you cannot as it would be too lengthy, but each person that you helped has run there course thanks to you. In fact I know no one else who has helped so many and caused such a ripple effect. You changed the very course of nature. You and you alone have fought to save humanity against its very self!"

Bruce takes another sip holding it warm on his tongue then swallows slowly.

"You needed no help until now. I am sorry, but this is out of your league entirely. You need us in order to save yourself!"


	7. Chapter 7

~7~

The two talk for hours now leaning closer and patting eachother's arms. Brothers for one brief moment, brought together by destiny.

The time traveler says " I have been here on Earth a while. My home base is called Logan's Run."

Bruce laughs.

"Yeah well it's not anything like the movie. This place is a Utopia. It is an Eden but I grew to hate it! He admits with a chuckle.

"You see I missed the humor, the sagacity, the bar room brawls vented from obsurdity, I missed the women of questionable morals." He laughs tilting a bushy brow.

Bruce laughs.

"I also missed the books, the mountains, the cities, the architecture, the very essence of man-kind and all its mighty feats. None exist at Logan. The place had no history, no heart, no magic. For me it became an asylum for my soul."

Bruce nods quietly.

The man now grips his hands together. "I caused the breach. If I had not returned no one would have discovered our time travel. I have put us all at risk."

"Then can't you just close the portal?"

"I wish it was the easy but it is a time continuam and to disrupt it could alter all time and space as we know it. The balance remains intact due to Nikki and his devices. Those would be taken away as the world slowly ceases to exist and you, I and perhaps most the planets that orbit around us will suddenly just vanish into thin air."

Bruce leans back and rubs his temples.

"So who are we up against?"

"We call them men in black. I know it sounds like that movie with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones but they are a breed of their own. They usually parade as CIA or FBI even as "spooks" but they are actually alien. They want to shut us down as they see us as a threat. They thought the Earth would run its course and that a chance of re-colonization would not happen so they monitored our behavior. They throw in morsels of hysteria to feed the masses in bogous reports to the public of cows being bled to death, crop circles, area 51, anything to make the public fear and panic. They are the UFO stagers. Don't get me wrong the military has tons of stealth crafts and some are saucer shaped but they are not manned by men nor alien but by robots. Robots are the only ones capable of withstanding it's speed, air height, turns, and control. By fear, people don't see the obvious. But history shows that all the massive UFO sightings were when this nation was under duress. Most of the highest reports were during war. They increased in reports year after year as popluations grew. Most unpopulated areas the military could test out their latest devices were now easily visible. They had to run tests and unfortunalty millions saw it. You don't want to know the weapons of mass destruction this planet now has!"

"I agree. I have a hard time just dealing with men with plain old guns."


	8. Chapter 8

~8~

Bruce retires just before the break of dawn to bed. His mind is filled with worry. He quietly slides off his robe and hangs it on the closet door peg. He slowly eases under the covers careful not to wake his dreaming bride.

Morning casts is bright light into the room announcing it's arrival with sharp rays towards his face. He adjusts his eyes and stretches noticing Selina is already up making coffee. The aroma drifts inside the bedroom. He can hear her singing. What is that song? He smiles but only for a moment. Today he must set aside his meeting with the time traveller to focus on the task at hand. The Wedding.

His duties to complete are lengthy. He must get everyone to the Chapel for rehearsal on time, pick up his suit, and the flowers Selina has chosen as her bouquet and his matching lapel flower. A task that he was glad he did not have to make. He did the usual agreeing in anything she said. This was her wedding, her day and frankly even though he could care less what colors were used, what flowers, what food, what song, he did care that she was happy. (Is something burning?) He must write his vows, pay the band, pay the caterers. The only thing he did not have to pay for was the ring. He sneeks into the closet and lifts out his loafer. He reaches inside and pulls out a tiny white box and lifts the lid. There she is in all her splendor. He snaps the lids shut and slides it back hearing Selina approaching the doorway.

"You awake?"

"Yes. Just grabbing my robe."

She walks around the door smiling holding two mugs of coffee. She looks so happy in her plush leopard print terry robe.

"I made us breakfast." she says with a smile.

Bruce follows her into the kitchen of disaster. His nose detects more burning. He eyes the culprits on the side of the plates as burned toast. Beside them lay piles of some sort of egg substance and beside that two strips of what may possibly have once been bacon.

She looks at him with an uneasy glance.

"Looks wonderful!" and digs into the leather of bacon. He smiles and forces it down quickly and chases it with his coffee to mask the char. He knows she is not a cook, he also knows better than to insult her.

She smiles and picks up a fork to and scoops at her yellow mountain and chews. She then looks up. "pooohhfff" and slowly grabs a napkin. " I think I made the eggs all wrong."

"Really?" He grabs a bite and with the skills of the finest actor manages to remain in role the entire scene relishing it. "Tastes great to me, but if you don't like it we can go out to eat."

She nods her head and puts down her napkin.

As she turns to set the plates in the sink. He chugs the entire mug of coffee down. 


	9. Chapter 10

~9~

Bruce heads out to inspect Chiesa di Santa Maria a Cetrella. He takes the newly decorated chair lift adorned with Star Gazer Lillies and travels up the steep mountain of Solerno.

A tiny chapel begins to grow as he gazes back at lulling ocean grinning in pleasure at his scrutinous choice for his soon- to- be wife.

The scuffling ancient priest with rosey cheeks approaches his landing and shakes his hands smiling and assures him that all is in order for the wedding. He ushers him inside as busy workers are adorning the Chapel with flowers and candles.

Bruce nods in affirmation. He takes him toward the piano and shows him the sheet music. Bruce turns and looks toward the arched door way where Selina will soon walk and takes in a deep breath.

The priest frowns in worry and pats him on the shoulder extending his arms out for him to please follow.

They head out back slowly to the terrace past the sacristy. Bruce approaches the quaint garden. In the back drop is a Wisteria covered pergola surrounded by wooden benches for his guests. He walks along the pebbled paths eyeing every flowers as he passes. He stops to inspect the seating. The air is filled from the garden with the sweet aroma from dainty rainbow colored Freesia in bloom. He checks the lighting as tiny dots emerge hidden intwined in the Wisteria. The priest watches him anxiously. The caterers now dart and scramble around setting up tables with dinnerware.

Bruce sits on the bench poised now like the thinker. The old priest fidgets gloomily looking and picking his fingernails. Bruce remains stoic for over ten minutes then eyes the workers finishing touches on the tables.

He now stands slowly and walks toward the edge of the garden. The priest follows him shrugging his shoulders. Bruce stares out at the breath taking panoramic ocean views of the Marina Piccola. His matching oceanic blue eyes pan side to side admiring the entire bay of Naples from Capo Miseno to Punto Campanella. He slowly rocks back and forth on his shiny loafers and slides his hands in his neatly pressed slack pockets as the ocean breeze cooly drifts through his shiny black hair.

He turns now to face the fidgety priest and says sternly : "This is ...!" He waves his arms wildy causing the tiny priests eyes to grow wide with mouth gaping open in a frightful poise.

"It's...It's.."

"Yes?..." the nervous priest whispers up wincing tilting his head.

Bruce raises his hands up to the heavens. "It's..."  
He places both hands clinched towards his lips and blows out a soft kiss into the Italian breeze "...Perrrrfecto!"

The old priest lets out a heavy sigh of relief and claps his tiny hands in excitement as his tiny bell tower chimes. He grins at the blessing and shouts " l'amore nell'aria! Per voi suona la campana!" 


End file.
